Chapter 7 - Addicted To Love

Jody was sitting at her desk in the back of the station house, doodling on a scratch pad. She'd originally intended to sit down and brainstorm ideas to help Frank find Gail, but she'd found out to her chagrin that she didn't have any. He and Dean and Sam had done everything they could, on their end. Jody had finally given in and sent a picture of Gail to some of her law enforcement contacts, and Dean had asked Linda to come over and draw Cas, as Frank and the Winchesters described him. Frank thought about that, while they were doing it. His parents had a bunch of pictures of Gail, and so did some of their other friends. But nobody had any pictures of Castiel, even though he had attended a number of functions with Gail. They had pictures of everybody who had been at Nicole and Dean's epic Christmas party, even guys who didn't work at the body shops any more, but: no Cas. Now Frank was starting to wonder if Cas might have something to hide.

They were doing everything they could, so Jody had started to doodle her name with Frank's, like some kind of a lame-ass schoolgirl, and then she started to draw ideas for designs for their wedding invitations. Frank was a pretty direct kind of guy; that was one of the many reasons Jody had fallen so hard for him. Her boyfriend had already told her that he intended to propose, as soon as Gail was found, safe and sound. Jody was excited about the prospect.

She was in the midst of trying to decide how to word the invitation when Riley came into her office. He tapped at the open door, and Jody smirked. If her door was open, what was the point of tapping on it? But she shifted another piece of paper on top of the one she'd been doodling on, anyway. Riley was more respectful than some of the guys, but that would be all she needed.

"There's somebody here I think you'd be interested in talking to," the young officer told Jody.

She got up from her chair and followed him out to the squad room, without asking any questions. Jody knew that Riley wouldn't have asked her to see whoever it was if it was regarding a trivial matter.

A middle-aged black man sat in the chair beside Riley's desk. He was scruffy-looking and his clothes were threadbare. But he sat up straight, his hands on his knees, and he looked Jody directly in the eye as Riley introduced her.

Jody extended her hand for a shake, but the man merely looked at it, and then he looked at her face again. She sighed.

"Raphael here told me something very interesting," Riley said. He took a seat at his desk as Jody pulled a chair from beside one of the other desks and sat down next to the stranger.

"Oh? And what's that?" Jody asked.

Raphael pointed to the sketch that Linda had done of Castiel, which was sitting on the surface of Riley's desk. "That is Castiel," he said in a deep voice. "He is a murderer, and he must be brought to justice."

God was watching with much interest now. He had been greatly amused when Ignatius had sent Raphael down to Earth. They had been having a very heated discussion in the boardroom, a while back. As an Archangel, and an especially arrogant one at that, Raphael had been an extremely vocal proponent of annexing Earth. He'd had those who were on his side of the debate, but Ignatius, Gabriel and others had either been against the notion, or had abstained from the vote. Castiel had been conspicuously absent, as had Jason. Ignatius was aware that Castiel was on the Earth, but he didn't pass that information along to any of the men. Castiel had his share of enemies, and Ignatius didn't want to see any more bloodshed between Angel Brothers. As for Jason, he had simply disappeared, and since Ignatius occupied the High Office by default at the moment, he did not have The Eye.

The reason that Ignatius knew where Castiel was, and what his Brother had been doing, was because Castiel would pop over for visits to Ignatius's suite from time to time to talk, and have a game of chess. He would tell Heaven's erstwhile leader about the humans, on those visits. How flawed and fragile, yet how brave and loving many of them were. They were not insects at all, but flesh and blood people, with hopes and dreams and emotions. The Father had definitely made them in His own image. If the Angels were to annex Earth and make the humans their slaves, or eradicate them altogether, they would be metaphorically slapping God the Father in the face.

Ignatius had raised an eyebrow to Castiel when his Brother had said those things to him, and Cas had smiled thinly.

"I know," he'd said, inclining his head in acknowledgement of Ignatius's reaction to what he was saying. "I used to be adamant that humans were inferior to us, and that we should annex the Earth for our own purposes. But I was wrong, and I had to be corrected. That was why Father punished me." He had gotten a far-off look in his eyes when he'd said that, and Ignatius wondered what God had done to Castiel to so radically change his outlook. But Castiel did not care to share his heartbreak with any of his colleagues. That was his personal business.

Eventually, both Castiel and Gabriel had persuaded Ignatius to come around to their point of view. Still, the erstwhile head of the board held a vote, allowing every Upper Echelon Angel to weigh in. When the motion to annex was defeated, Raphael had been outraged, promising they would all regret it. But because it was Ignatius who held the gavel, he had sent the Archangel down to Earth to live among the humans as a punishment for uttering threats, after siphoning out half of his Grace. So at the moment, Raphael only had the powers of an ordinary Angel, and Ignatius had warned him sternly not to raise a hand against any human. He was merely to live among them, and learn the lessons of humility, and compassion.

Well, it seemed as though the lesson hadn't exactly taken, God thought now, as He watched Raphael speaking to Jody and Riley.

"Where did you see him?" Jody asked Raphael sharply. "Was this woman with him?" She showed the Angel one of the photos of Gail from the file on Riley's desk.

"I saw him in the park, by Lake Nealy," Raphael replied.

"Lake Nealy?" Jody echoed, startled. "That's here, in town! When did you see him there?"

Raphael glared at her for a moment. He was given to understand that this human was an authority figure here, but he wasn't used to being spoken to with such disrespect, and especially not by a woman. But then again, on the other hand, he wanted Castiel to be captured by his precious humans. See how long it would take for him to lash out at them.

"Efram!" Jody called out. The young officer came across the squad room floor. "Please take this man's statement. He claims Castiel is responsible for more than one murder. Riley and I are going to see if we can apprehend him."

While the police were racing to the park, Castiel was sitting cross-legged at the spot where Gail had died, waiting to be arrested. Now that he had succeeded in helping to swing the vote in Heaven, his next act of atonement would be to achieve closure for Gail's family.

Unbeknownst to Castiel, his Father had orchestrated all of the events that were about to unfold. God had magnanimously decided to cross Temperance off the list of Virtues, reasoning that since Angels didn't partake in Earthly pleasures, that quality would be difficult to demonstrate. But, like Raphael, God was very interested to see how Castiel would react if he were to be put in jail and on trial by humans. Would he lash out violently, or would he bow his head, instead?

There was a bright white flash, and Cas looked up at the sky, startled. Was it a storm? But the flash was not repeated, and the weather remained dry. God had reached down and removed all of Castiel's Angelic powers from him. The test would be rendered useless if his Son could merely wink himself out of jail.

A few minutes later, Jody and Riley came upon him, and the Sheriff informed Castiel he was under arrest for murder. He nodded, rising slowly to his feet. Riley frisked Cas as Jody read him his rights, but he was unarmed, of course. Cas had left his blade with Gabriel, for safekeeping. He would have no use for it where he was going.

When Jody told Cas that he had the right to remain silent, he shook his head. "I will tell you anything you need to know," he said.

So, unable to help herself, Jody said, "Did you kill Gail?"

"I loved her with all my heart," Cas replied. "She died, right here."

Jody and Riley exchanged glances. Was he confessing to Frank's sister's murder? But that wasn't exactly what he'd said, was it? Was Cas insane? Did he feel guilty?

He was merely staring at them now, docile, as Riley cuffed his hands behind his back. And as they took Cas away, he began to understand what his Father had in mind, and incredibly, he smiled. That enraged Jody, and she gave him a hard shove. Cas tripped, and fell to his knees.

"You saw nothing," Jody said to Riley, and the young cop nodded quickly, grabbing Cas by the arm and yanking the prisoner to his feet. Riley understood how Jody felt. They had all attended Dean Winchester's Christmas party together. Coincidentally, Riley had been there too, as the date of one of the girls who was taking Sam Winchester's night class. Frank's sister Gail had been a vivacious young woman with big brown eyes, and a wicked sense of humour. She and Frank and the Winchester brothers had bantered back and forth mercilessly, but it had been obvious to Riley that there was a great deal of affection there. Cas had been there too, doting on Gail, always by her side. But he had seemed like a bit of an outsider to Riley. The young officer couldn't remember seeing Cas eat, or drink, or dance. He couldn't even picture the guy interacting with anybody else at the party. He had just stuck by Gail, staring at her the whole time. Actually, now that Riley thought about it, it seemed creepy to him. And now, the guy was smiling. Cas was lucky just to have a couple of skinned knees.

As Castiel was being locked away at the jail in the station house and Jody was picking up the phone to call Frank with the news, Rowena was showing her new friend Patricia how to do some basic magic spells.

The ancient witch was still extremely angry about the fact that those men had come into her place of business and wiped out the coven she had spent years assembling, and she was angrier still that the group had included a woman. Rowena was used to men trying to oppress her at every turn. That was why she handpicked her male associates very carefully. But it never ceased to amaze her when a woman betrayed her. As far as the witch was concerned, they were all a sisterhood. Didn't they have enough problems with men, without turning on each other, too?

In retrospect, though, Rowena didn't really believe that Abigail had betrayed her; at least, not on purpose. Her protegee had been dating that man Bobby, but Rowena was convinced that Abby'd had no idea who and what Bobby was. The woman hadn't been experienced enough to recognize a Hunter when she saw one.

But Abigail had paid the price, and so had Barnabas, and the rest of them. Rowena had fled, of course. She was the Queen Bee, the one who would outlive them all. But if she was going to go after those Hunters, she would need help. Or at least, someone to throw under the proverbial bus, if a sacrificial lamb was needed.

"Do I put the bat's wing in before the wolfsbane?" Patricia inquired now, and Rowena leaned in closer to look at the contents of the bowl. "It depends on the sex of the person you're administering the potion to," Rowena told her. She pointed to the page of the spell book with one long red fingernail. "See?"

But instead of looking where Rowena was pointing, Patricia turned around to face her mentor. She kissed Rowena on the lips, surprising the witch. "I see YOU," Patricia said softly. "You're the most beautiful woman I've ever met." She kissed Rowena again, and Rowena was surprised once more when she found herself kissing Patricia back. What the hell? She was an ancient being, but there were still a few things she had yet to experience.

The ingredients Patricia had been holding fell to the floor, the spell forgotten.

Paul was re-loading the camera, waiting for the ladies to change outfits. Kevin entered the studio, and his new husband smiled.

"Hey, Boo," Paul said, kissing Kevin on the cheek. "Give me about half an hour, and I'll be done. Me and the girls have one more layout to do."

"You'll never believe what Dean just told me," Kevin said breathlessly. "That guy Castiel was arrested for Gail's murder."

Paul's head snapped up. "What?!" he exclaimed. His husband filled him in on the vague details he'd received so far. Gail's boyfriend had told the cops that she was dead, but he couldn't, or wouldn't, say where her body was. He'd told Jody he didn't need a lawyer; he just wanted to be brought to trial as soon as possible so that he could confess to his crimes in open court, and receive his punishment. Jody'd told him it didn't work that way. He had to have a lawyer. "So she called in a Public Defender, and he's going to go talk to the guy. Frank's freaking out. He said if Jody wasn't the Sheriff, he would just go into that lockup with a gun, and save the taxpayers the cost of a trial."

Paul was somber. He could certainly understand how Frank felt, but: "I don't think Cas killed her, Kev," Paul said now. "Did you see the way he WAS with her? Did you see the way he looked at her? No, I don't believe that for a second."

Kevin was thoughtful now. His husband was a good judge of character. But, Castiel was just weird. Any way it turned out, it was too bad. He felt for Frank, and for his and Gail's parents. Kevin couldn't imagine how his own mom would take it if anything happened to him.

"Find out when the trial is," Paul said absently, as the models started to come out of the dressing room. "I think I want to go."

Kevin looked at him with a curious expression, but then he relented. Dean and Sam were very close friends with Frank, and Kevin and Paul felt like family to the men. Paul had a soft heart. He probably just wanted to be there for moral support. "OK, Paulie. I will," he said quietly, as Paul got back to work.